The Other Side
by Inugami-Kun
Summary: The sequel to The Summer Extravaganza; now finally in Mundus Magicus! Ala Alba is faced with their biggest experience yet! After finally arriving on the other side, Negi's party is attacked and thrown into turmoil. Yet somehow, love can still continue within the group! A struggle to find Negi's father, a growing love, and an adventure of a life time await Ala Alba!
1. Prologue

The Other Side

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Sensei Negima and its pure awesomeness! It belongs only and solely to Ken Akamatsu!

**Inugami: I just couldn't possibly leave you guys hanging for too long!**

**Noriya: It's a short prologue, but then again...**

**Noah: All of Inugami's prologues have been short!**

**Blair: ...Indeed that is very true...**

**Inugami: I hope you guys enjoy! **

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Prologue

It was summer vacation for Negi Springfield and his friends, and his group, Ala Alba had ventured to Mundus Magicus to search for his father.

Upon arriving on the other side, Negi was startled to find that some of his students had stowed away for the adventure of a life time. Now, Yuuna Akashi, Akira Okochi, Makie Sasaki and Natsumi Murakami were more lost and confused than ever before.

Once again, Negi's secret of being a mage was discovered, and not only that, but Blair Nakamura and the rest of Ala Alba's intentions were revealed as well.

After much frantic behavior, Negi finally takes notice to a force that he had felt before. It was an eerie feeling full of hatred and bloodlust. Before he knew it, there was a stone spear that had pierced through his chest, and it came terribly close to his heart. His attacker was none other than Fate Averruncus, the white haired mercenary from the Kyoto school trip.

Kotaro Inugami and Kaede Nagase quickly went to action as they fought against Fate's comrades that had accompanied him from the other side. Setsuna Sakurazaki, Mahora's middle school swordsman, along with her master, Noriya Tan quickly went into action as they tried to defend against Fate's attacks.

All seemed lost however, for neither of the two had their weapons to even make a dent into the boy's magic shield. In the end, Asuna Kagurazaka, without much thought, used her kanka to destroy the box that sealed all of their pactio cards and equipment.

In the blink of an eye, the group was on the offensive, and Konoka Konoe was quickly making her way to Negi so that she may heal him. But just as she was about to reach the boy, Fate quickly appeared before her and unleashed a horrible petrification spell. Too bad for Fate however, for Setsuna came to the rescue of her girlfriend and shielded her with her wings, and just in time for Konoka to heal Negi!

While Noriya, Blair and Setsuna did their best to fend off Fate's comrades, Anya Cocolova, Haruna Saotome, Yue Ayase, Nodoka Miyazaki, Kazumi Asakura, Chisame Hasegawa, Chachamaru Karakuri and Noah Tokaido (Trim) were quickly coming onto the scene after hearing the explosions from the outside.

Much to their surprise, Negi was healed by Konoka, but the fight between Fate's team and Ala Alba had completely shattered the gate port.

Negi and Blair's stowaway students were at a complete loss as to what was happening before them, and before they could even get an explanation Fate had invoked a force teleportation spell that scattered the group to different areas of Mundus Magicus.

"This is my gift to you." Was what the white haired boy told the group. At first Negi had no clue what the boy was talking about, but as he figured it out with the sudden glowing of the ground he reached his hand out and hoped that his comrades would grab onto him. A giant pillar of stone had separated Negi's hand from his other friends, but lucky for him, Chachamaru had quickly used her robotic hand to grab hold of the boy.

There was a flash of bright light, and the forced teleportation had been completed. The next thing Negi saw was nothing but darkness.

Many hours later, Negi had awoken in the middle of a large jungle. His body felt as though elephants had just trampled over him, and his chest was heavy as though a paperweight was put on top of it. Looking around, Negi was confused and disoriented; he began searching his surrounding area and quickly found Chachamaru bathing in a nearby stream.

After getting the full story about what had happened, Negi did his best to try and contact his friends, but came up with no results. Chachamaru was overly concerned about Negi's wellbeing, for he had been burning up with a fever ever since the incident. Negi however was unbelievably stubborn and insisted on finding his companions.

While Chachamaru and Negi were trying to locate the members of Ala Alba that were supposedly in the same jungle as they were in, things were looking sad for Konoka and Setsuna. The two had been separated from one another when the teleportation had happened and without Setsuna by her side, the young princess felt even more afraid than before. Setsuna on the other hand was flipping shit and crying out for her beloved.

A similar situation had arisen for Chisame and Noriya, for Chisame's hand slipped out of her girlfriend's hand just as the spell reached its climax. After several hours, both Noriya and Chisame awoke in what seemed to be a large jungle.

The other couple in Ala Alba, Ako and Blair was more fortunate in their luck, for Blair had quickly grabbed Ako into a hug when the spell first started. The girl was also able to grab a hold of Akira's hand right when the spell sent them all to different corners of the magic country. The three of them ended up waking up in the middle of a desert.

Noah had found himself in the middle of a forest with Asuna by his side. As it had happened, the eighteen year old was trying to grab hold of the closest comrade he could before the spell happened. Asuna just happened to be the one that was right next to him.

The others whereabouts were a mystery, but some of them could be tracked with the Ala Alba badges given to the other members. However, the biggest problem was the fact that Yuuna and the others didn't have badges, for they weren't part of the club. This made locating all of them a lot more difficult than finding the others.

Negi and Chachamaru were determined to find the rest of their comrades and safely return to Mahora. The chances of them making it back before their summer vacation was over however would be impossible.

Negi and rest of Ala Alba are determined to return to the other world, and find out the truth of Nagi Springfield in the process.

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**Inugami: And there you have the prologue!**

**Noriya: It's not much, but it's a start.**

**Noah: If Inugami keeps typing, the first chapter might be up tonight!**

**Blair: ...Inugami starts college tomorrow though...**

**Inugami: I'm still gonna try and get the first chapter up though!**

**Noriya: Well, this is the mage in training, Noriya...**

**Noah: The actual mage, Noah...**

**Blair: ...The swordsman, Blair...**

**Inugami: And the non-magical writer, Inugami signing off!**


	2. Ch 1: The Search is On

**Inugami: And here's the chapter one I promised you guys!**

**Noriya: We hope you enjoy the start of The Other Side!**

**Noah: It's full of lots of action and romance!**

**Blair: ...Enjoy...**

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Chapter One: The Search is On

After awaking in the middle of a large jungle, Chisame went in search for her comrades, but she wasn't the only one. Everyone else from Ala Alba was in search for their friends as soon as they first awoke.

"Damn, I can't believe that we ended up walking right into danger just as soon as we got here! We even ended up getting separated from everyone!" Chisame roared as she continued to trudge around the large jungle. She couldn't believe that at the very last second Noriya's hand had slipped from her grip. If she was going to be separated from the others, she wouldn't have minded if it was at least with her girlfriend.

"Hmm… I hope that idiot is okay… I'm sure she'll be fine because she had her sword and staff with her, but she looked really beat up from that battle… And I'm sure she hasn't got the slightest clue how to treat wounds…" Chisame sighed as she pulled off her robe. The sun was blazing through the tree branches, and the heat was starting to become unbearable.

In the end Chisame began to take pictures of her cosplayed form and used her electric mice companions to try and find a signal. To no luck, Chisame confessed to the little mice that she was just trying to find some sort of comfort in the large jungle that they were trapped in.

"What!? 310 kilometers to the nearest human habitation?!" Chisame shouted to the small mice that were holding up a map of the magic country. It was true; no matter how many times the electric rodents checked the distance, it would still come up the same.

"Damn… I hope I'll be able to find Nori-chan or that idiot teacher… Huh? What's going on with you guys!?" Chisame gasped as she watched the little mice begin to fall one by one.

"Forgive us Chiu-tama… It seems that your phone and laptop are close to dying, and we can only materialize when they're on… The least I can do is draw which way you should go from here…" The last mouse spoke as it drew an arrow with the words "this way" on it. Chisame grimaced as she looked at the fading mouse.

"Chiu-tama…don't die!" The mouse proclaimed as it finally disappeared.

"Don't say such morbid things! Gah! I guess that just means I have no one to talk to…" Chisame grumbled as she began to walk past a swamp. But before she could even take another step, she stopped in her tracks.

"Damn it! I can't believe this is happening! GAH! Don't underestimate Chiu-sama! I will get out of this situation even if I have to do it on my own!" She yelled in frustration, only to be startled by a large bubble coming out of the swamp.

Looking over to what could be making such a disgusting gurgling noise, Chisame came face to face with a completely horrifying and repulsive squid creature. The net idol's first instinct was to quickly run away, but with the use of its many tentacles, the creature had latched itself around Chisame. Its tentacles were dissolving the girl's clothes quickly, and tears began to stream from her eyes. She was being violated by a multi-tongued creature and was about to be eaten without anyone around her.

"Someone help me!" The girl screamed as she shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable to happen.

"CHISAME-CHAAAAN!"

Plummeting from the sky, Noriya came crashing down and cutting Chisame free from the tentacle creature. Negi and Chachamaru flew in as well as they cut through multiple of the creature's tentacles. The creature ended up fleeing as the three were happily reunited with Chisame. By now, all of Chisame's clothes had already been eaten through, and Negi quickly grabbed Chachamaru and left the two lovers alone.

"C-Chisame-chan… Y-you're naked!" Noriya exclaimed as she covered her eyes, her face turning a bright red. The otaku turned equally as red as she wrapped herself in her robe and then quickly pulled on her girlfriend's cheeks.

"B-b-baka! It's your fault because you're late! If you had gotten here sooner than that, then that stupid B-grade fantasy monster wouldn't have dissolved all of my clothes!" The girl began to hit the blonde over the head multiple times; this caused the girl start running around in circles as her girlfriend continued to berate her.

After a while however, the girl had a devious idea come to mind as she turned around and embraced the angry otaku. The younger girl blushed as she embarrassingly tried to get out of the hug, only to cause both of them to topple over, with Noriya on top of Chisame.

"B-b-baka! What do you think you're d-doing!?" Chisame exclaimed as she covered her blushing face from her girlfriend. Noriya gave the girl a charismatic smile as she looked into the girl's eyes.

"It's only been two days, but…I missed you, Chisame-chan. I was so worried that I would never get to do this again…" Noriya whispered into the girl's ear as she soon pressed her lips onto Chisame's. Letting go of her restraints, the bespectacled otaku wrapped her arms around the girl's neck and pulled her in for a deeper and more intimate kiss.

The mage brushed her tongue over the otaku's lips, and the younger girl allowed her entry into her own mouth. Their tongues danced in circles as they tried to dominate the other, and as they continued to passionately kiss, Noriya's hand accidentally began to slip down to the girl's breast. Pulling back, the otaku's face was crimson red and she looked annoyingly at the older girl.

"What do you think you're doing, you idiot!?" Chisame snapped as she punched the top of the mage's head.

"Ah! Gomen! I swear that was an accident!" Noriya exclaimed as she tried to reconcile with her girlfriend. It was too bad for the two lovers however, for during the middle of their intense make out session, Negi and Chachamaru had returned to check up on them. Both were in a state of complete shock.

"I-idiot! You better take responsibility for this!" Chisame shouted as she pulled on Noriya's cheeks, yelling curses and cuss words at the girl. All Noriya could go was laugh over how flustered her girlfriend was, and after many apologies and a couple of hugs and kisses, the otaku forgave the girl.

After resting and eating some dinner, the four made a strategy as to what their next plan was going to be. Negi still had a horrible fever, and there was still one other person in the jungle that they had to find.

So the next morning, the four left in search of the other person in the jungle. Along the way, Negi had collapsed due to his intense fever. The group quickly found shade underneath the leaves of the palm trees on the beach. He felt bad because someone else could have ended up in trouble just like Chisame was, and all he could really do was worry.

"Sensei, you have to rest. Your fever isn't going to go away if you keep pushing yourself." Chachamaru tried to get the boy to lie back down.

"Gosh, Negi-kun you're really stubborn…" Noriya sighed as her and Chisame looked at the boy with annoyed eyes.

"I-I can't give up… We have to find that last person…" Negi spoke as he got back to his feet. He was stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"No need, I'm right here!" It was Kotaro that had found the group. Just as Negi was going to greet his friend, the boy quickly punched the child teacher in the face. Surprised, everyone watched as Negi went flying into the nearby ocean.

"You idiot! All you do is worry! And you call yourself my rival! You'll never catch up to the Thousand Master! Even Asuna-nee-san is more like that guy than you are! If you can beat me, I'll tell you what she has that you don't!" Kotaro was taunting Negi, and it worked. The two ended up duking it out for another fifteen minutes until they both exhausted themselves. The battle ended in a draw.

"Haha, your fever must be down now." Kotaro laughed as the two headed back to the shoreline. Feeling his forehead, Negi was surprised that Kotaro's deductions were spot on.

"It is! But how?" The boy asked. Kotaro grinned as he pointed at Negi's chest wound.

"Konoka-nee-san used too much magic when she was healing your wound. So, all of the magic got trapped in your body and started wreaking havoc. The easiest solution to heal you was to get you to release all that magic!" Kotaro laughed as he gave Negi a confident smile. Impressed by Kotaro's plan, he thanked his friend as they headed back to where the others were.

"Oh, Kotaro-kun, what is it that Asuna-san has that I don't?" Negi asked the boy as they slowly walked back to shore.

"Hmm, I don't have to tell you, you didn't win! Aww, but whatever. I guess I can give you a freebie. The thing that Asuna-nee-san has that you don't is…well idiocy I suppose." Kotaro laughed as he put his arms behind his head.

"Huuuh? I don't get it!" Negi exclaimed.

"Haha too bad, freebie is over!" Kotaro snickered as he ran off, only to be chased after by Negi.

Now that Negi's group was up by three more people, things were also starting to look good for the other members that were separated.

Asuna and Noah were wandering around the forest that they had ended up in, but traveling was difficult with Asuna moping about everyone else's wellbeing. Asuna was mostly worried about how Negi was doing, and hoping that the young teacher was okay.

"Don't worry Asuna-san; I'm positive Negi is doing fine." Noah tried to reassure the girl as they continued their walk through the forest. Asuna sighed as she looked to the sky and let out another moan of worry.

"I sure hope so… That little idiot… I mean, he was really hurt too… I hope someone ended up with him. If no one is there to take care of him, he could end up dying…" Asuna mumbled as she thought about the worst case scenario that could have happened.

"He's a strong kid! I'm sure he's—…Look out!" Noah shouted as he pushed Asuna out of the way and took his staff into his hand. Asuna was startled by this as she flew backwards into a tree; the girl's temper almost got the better of her when she almost hit the boy over the head. But before that could happen, Noah had taken his staff and conjured up a large wind storm.

Something had been flying speedily towards them, and when the wind attack had landed a hit on the mysterious creature, they were shocked to see that it had been none other than Setsuna. The hanyo was flying at dangerously fast speeds due to the fact she was in search of Konoka. It was clear that the swordsman was in a state of complete distress without her princess.

"Asuna-san! Noah-san!" Setsuna exclaimed as she hugged her two comrades. It wasn't new seeing Setsuna the way she was, but something about her was more aggressive than how she normally was. But the two helped to comfort the young swordsman.

"Asuna-san… K-Kono-chan is…uwaaaah!" Setsuna began to panic as tears formed in her eyes. She could only imagine what could possibly happen to Konoka at that very second.

"Setsuna-san, calm down! I'm sure she's okay! Konoka isn't weak, and despite her acting like an airhead, she's really smart! You know that, you're her girlfriend after all. I'm sure she's not too far from us, I mean we ran into you after only two days of being separated." Asuna spoke as she tried to ease the young hanyo's mind.

"She's right! Besides, Eva-san said these badges do more than just show off that we're Ala Alba. It comes with a tracking device. We can find the location of the other badges if they're in the badges 1800 kilometer range." Noah explained as he took off the badge that was attached to his necklace. He then used his magic to create pin points of all the badges that he could find.

"It would seem that there are two badges 360 kilometers to the north of us, but that's all that I'm picking up." Noah spoke as he unrolled a map of the magic country he had taken out from his backpack.

"Wow, Noah-san, I had no idea you were so prepared." Setsuna praised the young adult as he marked the area where the badges were coming from.

"Haha, well, I am the son of the headmaster in Wales. I have to be prepared or I know I'll just end up embarrassing that man." Noah chuckled as he began to calculate the distance they would have to travel each day just to catch up to the two badges he had found.

"Son of the headmaster? You mean the headmaster of Negi's old school?" Asuna asked curiously as she and Setsuna looked over the boy's shoulder.

"Mmm, he taught me a lot of things. I actually never told Negi this, but his father taught me a lot of stuff too before he went missing. Same thing goes for Takamichi, Eishun and that perverted guy Albireo. Takamichi taught me about kanka, but I only ever used it once; Eishun taught me how to use a nodachi, but I felt it unnecessary since I had my staff; and then there was Al… He taught me a lot of healing magic, and it was one of the few things that I still use today. But what I really use as a form of fighting is the way that idiot Nagi fights." Noah told the pair as he finished calculating how long it would take them to reach the other two badges.

"Wow! So you must really know a lot about Negi and Anya then huh?" Asuna asked in amazement.

"Huh? Oh, well yeah! I used to be Negi's master when he was growing up. At least that's what he used to call me when I was teaching him. Same thing goes for Anya as well. I taught both of them when they were younger, and I watched over Negi while Nekane was away." Noah replied as he gave the two a smile.

"Oh, so then you must know about what happened that snowy day then huh?" Setsuna asked. Tension began to build in the air as Noah slowly nodded his head.

"I was twelve years old when the incident happened. Though, I was spared from all of that because I was still teaching classes at Meldiana where Anya was at. When I had heard the news about what had happened to my hometown, I was distraught. I worried for Nekane and Negi and everyone else there, but there was nothing that I could do. I had to be there for Anya because she had found out that her mother was petrified. When I found out that Negi and Nekane were safe, I was relieved, but I was sad that had happened to them. Then when Negi came back with the Thousand Master's staff, I knew that he was alive somewhere as well. That was why I told my father that I was going to go travel the world and further my studies and training." Noah told the two, his eyes were full of sorrow, and yet still full of so much fire.

The two looked at one another, but then came to realize that he said he was 'teaching' at age twelve.

"W-wait a minute! Do all the students that go to that Welsh school end up being child prodigies?!" Asuna shouted as she pointed at Noah.

"And if you're from England, what kind of surname is 'Tokaido'!? You certainly are shrouded in mystery!" Asuna blurted out as she looked at Setsuna and then back at the young adult.

"Eh? Uh well, I suppose so. But if you're talking prodigies, I'm no more of a prodigy than Negi and Anya are. Anya can be a bit dense, but Negi is incredibly smart. I finished magic school the same age as Negi did, and by the time the incident happened, I had already completed two years of teaching. And as for my surname, when I went to Japan, Eishun always called me by 'Tokaido'. I never knew why, but after a while the name sort of stuck." Noah laughed as he flashed a picture of Eishun training a younger version of him.

"W-wow, the chief looks so young." Setsuna spoke as she and Asuna looked at the picture the boy had flashed. They were learning more and more about the boy that they probably would have never learned if they hadn't gotten separated.

"So then what is your real surname?" The orange haired girl questioned the eighteen year old.

"Oh, it's 'Trim'." Noah replied as he showed them his teacher's ID from Wales. The young adult had many pictures in the wallet that he carried, and while Noah thought up a plan of what to do, the other two girls were flipping through his pictures. Most of the pictures were of him with Negi and Anya when they were younger. But stuffed in the very back of his wallet were four pictures of him with Nekane.

The first picture was of the two when they were kids, followed by a picture of Nekane pinching his cheeks after what looked to be his graduation from the Magic Academy. The next picture was of the two standing in front of the London Bridge together. And lastly was a photo of Noah with his arm wrapped around Nekane's waist.

"Ne, Noah-kun…You and Negi's sister seem to be very close…" Asuna blatantly spoke as she waved the photos in front of the boy. He blankly looked up from what he was doing and gave them a gentle smile.

"Well, believe it or not, Nekane is only two years older than I am, and we've always been together since we were kids. Kind of like how Anya and Negi are now. Actually, when we were kids, Nekane told me that she would make me her husband when we got older. Throughout my teen years we've been dating, and once we think we're ready, we'll get married." Noah nonchalantly told the two.

"WHAAAAT!?"

While the trio was clearly enjoying their talk, elsewhere in the magic world, Konoka had thankfully met up with Kaede. They were actually the pair of badges that Noah had sensed earlier and were also in pursuit of finding Setsuna and the others.

"Don't worry Konoka-dono, I'm sure Setsuna-dono and the others are okay!" Kaede reassured the girl. Konoka looked at her hand as she intertwined her left hand with her right hand; the princess missed the feeling of Setsuna's hand in hers.

In the heat of the desert, Blair, Ako and Akira had luckily run into Natsumi, but the girl was suffering from a horrible fever.

"Damn it… What are we going to do?"

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**Inugami: Ha ha ha, there you have it!**

**Noriya: WHY AM _I_ THE ONE DOING ALL THE KISSING!?**

**Noah: Cause it seems like something your character would do...**

**Noriya: What's that supposed to mean!?**

**Blair: ...He has a point...**

**Noah: Haha, I'm engaged to Nekane! **

**Blair: ...This is Blair...**

**Noah: Haha, Noah...**

**Noriya: Err... Noriya...**

**Inugami: Hahaha And Inugami signing out! **


	3. Ch 2: Forward On

**Inugami: Here you have chapter two!**

**Noriya: It's fortunate you started college on a Friday!**

**Noah: Yeah, so now you have a weekend to write!**

**Blair: ...P-please enjoy this chapter...**

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Chapter Two: Forward On

"10,000 kilometers!? Just how far is 10,000 kilometers!? What is this, 3000 leagues in search of mother?!" Chisame exclaimed as she looked at the map that her little mice had calculated out for them. Thanks to Chachamaru being an endless supply of electricity, Chisame was able to charge her laptop and phone so that her artifact would actually be of use to her.

"Chisame-chan, you don't have to scream…We're right here you know?" Noriya spoke as she leaned on the younger girl's shoulder. This comment gave the mage a sudden slap in the back of the head.

"I realize that! Baka! Furthermore, you're telling me that this entire world's area is one third that of the earth's surface? And it's populated by high-level monsters? And that we need to search for seventeen people in all parts of this ridiculous other world? Who the hell's selling this piece of shit game!" Chisame screamed as she began pulling on Noriya's cheeks once again.

"Agh, hey! Don't take this out on me!" Noriya exclaimed as she tried to pry Chisame's hands away from her face. The net idol didn't look like she was going to stop pinching her cheeks any time soon, so Noriya took advantage of this by planting a quick kiss on the girl's lips. Not only did this cause the otaku to let go of her, but it also stopped her from yelling again.

"There. Have you calmed down?" Noriya asked as she looked at the girl's blushing face.

"…Yes I have. Now can we just leave so we can get to that town that we found? We only have another two kilometers to go until we reach civilization…" Chisame grumbled as she turned her head away from Noriya. This caused the other three to laugh as they headed off towards where the town should have been on the map.

After walking around in weather that was probably over 100 degrees, Negi and Kotaro quickly ran over to the side of the cliff and began shouting.

"Ah! There's the town!" The two shouted as they began to jump up for joy.

"That really was long wasn't it? Traveling 300 kilometers in four days. This is _really_ the best summer vacation ever." Chisame sarcastically commented as she looked at the town ahead of them.

"What are you talking about? You were flying with Noriya-nee-chan for most of the way." Kotaro retorted.

"Here we go!" The two boys shouted as they jumped over the cliff.

"Hey, hey! Don't separate from us, you brats!" Chisame shouted after them. Noriya came up behind the girl and help situate themselves on the staff.

"But you know, the town doesn't look very fantasy-like on the outside. That's a relief." Chisame sighed as she wrapped herself around Noriya's waist.

"Shall we go as well?" Chachamaru asked as the three jumped off the cliff and flew down to where Negi and Kotaro were.

Once in the town, Kotaro and Negi were happy that they had found food. Chisame and Noriya were looking at how the town really was very fantasy-like. It only made Chisame uneasy. There also seemed to be no such thing as a public order or police system.

"Shouldn't we use a long distance phone or telepathy to call for help from Megalo Whatchamacallit?" Kotaro asked as he munched into an apple.

"You're right, we definitely should. If Donette-san is alright, she might be already searching for us." Negi replied as they continued their walk through town.

"This is the midday news." The five heard the voice of a woman and looked up. From what it looked like, there was a television in the middle of the street.

"The picture quality sucks…" Chisame snorted as she held onto Noriya's hand, in hopes that the girl won't go wandering off.

"This is a follow up report to the incident which occurred five days ago, where magic power within the gateports went wild in various locations throughout the world. Magic energy continues to be discharged at each of the gateports, and with no outlook for recovery, travelers are being stalled…" The anchorwoman spoke.

"This must be about what happened back then." Chachamaru whispered.

"Various places throughout the world…?" Chisame and Noriya said as they looked at one another.

"There had also been no world of a responsible party. The background of this incident remaining a mystery. However, we have received new images today from Mesembria authorities for public release." Suddenly a picture of a boy showed up on the screen. Of all the people it was, it was Negi himself on the screen.

"The person you see here is the perpetrator of the incident, a human boy who appears to be no more than ten years old. He has been labeled as an internationally wanted criminal with a reward posted." Noriya quickly turned to face Kotaro, who covered Negi's mouth so that he didn't shout from surprise.

Noriya then quickly flew down to the two on her staff and pulled Negi's hood over his face. The others did the same as she did as to make sure their faces weren't seen. The picture of Negi continued to flash on the screen, and underneath his photo was the amount that he was being posted at if he was turned in. It was a whopping 300,000 drachma.

"Moron, don't yell!" Kotaro whispered frantically into Negi's ear.

"This is an image that has been publicly released." On the screen was a video of Negi destroying one of the pillars from the gateport.

"I didn't do tha…fmmghh!" Negi still struggled under Kotaro's grip as the boy still covered his mouth.

"Shut up!" Kotaro tried hushing the boy as he too pulled his hood up.

"Hey! What the hell is this?" Chisame exclaimed quietly as she and Chachamaru ran over to them.

"It's a forgery!" Noriya exclaimed as she pulled Chisame's hood over her head. Nodding to Chachamaru, the robot did the same as Chisame began to panic.

"A forgery?! By whom?! And for what reason?!" Chisame whispered to Kotaro and Noriya.

"Obviously, it's that guy Fate!" Noriya told the girl.

"He's shot us down twice now. That guy is really freaking pissing me off!" Kotaro grumbled. Chachamaru listened to the three of them panic and then came up with a valid comment.

"We should probably refrain from attempting to get in contact with them." The robot spoke as she looked at the four before her. Negi had finally calmed down a bit as well.

"Shit! We can't stay here! We need to leave town!" Chisame barked as she grabbed Noriya's hand and started pulling on her.

"P-please wait!" Negi said as he grabbed the back of Chisame's robe.

"Did you forget? The response from the next badge is in this town. We won't be able to search for the badge's owner if we leave town!" Negi told the four.

"He's got you there." Kotaro snickered as they turned to Chachamaru who began searching for the location of the badge.

"It's quite close." Chachamaru said as she pointed towards an alley.

"Really?!" Negi dashed to where the badge was supposedly at.

"It's a mere fifty meters at the end of this alley, in front of the building that looks like a bar." Chachamaru spoke as she watched Negi and Kotaro head over there.

"What…? I don't see anybody…" Noriya spoke as she too followed the others.

"Hey… Don't tell me…" Chisame spoke as her and Chachamaru ran after the other three. When they reached the bar, there at Negi's feet was an Ala Alba badge. After picking up the badge, the five of them hid in one of the back alleys of the town.

"…This situation couldn't get any worse. There's no reason to just drop such a handy badge…" Chisame sighed as she looked at Noriya and then at Negi whom was holding a bounty list.

"This doesn't look good either. It's not just Negi-sensei's picture. Everybody else from Ala Alba is listed with a reward." Chachamaru spoke as she pointed to her picture on the bounty list.

"This is a bounty, isn't it? Where are we, in a damn western movie?" Chisame grumbled as she soon saw Noriya's picture on the list.

"I guess we should be glad that Yuuna-chan and Maki-chan and the others aren't listed…" Noriya whispered.

"Everybody…if only I was more…" Negi was beginning to worry once again, but was cut down by Kotaro.

"Hey, Negi! Has that nice, educated brain of yours begun swirling around the same thing again? Did you forget what we talked about before?! You're worthless." Kotaro teased the boy as he began to make a spinning motion around his head.

"Kota-kun makes a valid point Negi-kun…" Noriya whispered to the child teacher.

"But, this is such a horrible state of affairs. Everybody is…" Negi tried to talk back.

"And that is why worrying isn't gonna get anything solved. Dumbass!" Kotaro shouted to the boy.

Chisame and Chachamaru were doing their best to stay out of the three's argument.

"Those guys'll be fine. They can handle something like this." Kotaro confidently told Negi.

"Yeah! Believe in them!" Noriya exclaimed.

"B-but that…telling me to believe that with no basis…!" Negi tried to contradict the two.

"Isn't a comrade somebody you can believe in without any basis at all?" Kotaro yelled into the boy's face, causing him to go into a state of shock.

"Oh, wow…Kota-kun said something smart for once…" Noriya mumbled sarcastically.

"Can't you use that accomplished head of yours a little more productively?" Kotaro laughed as he looked at the shocked boy. Chisame came up next to Noriya as she cleared her throat to get everyone's attention.

"…Are we good now? Then, let's confirm the current situation. Whatever fate we've been place into; we're wanted men with bounties on our heads." Chisame started as she looked at the others.

"Hmm, assuming we were caught now. Upon being brought to Megalomesambria, we'd need a way to appeal for our innocence." Noriya continued as she looked at Chisame.

"That probably wouldn't be wise." Chisame replied.

"You're right. As we're already in this position…There's no guarantee we could prove our innocence. It's possible that it'll be the end for us if we're caught." Kotaro told the group.

"And for that same reason, we can't request help from the police or the embassy, either." Chisame deduced as she thought more about their situation.

"And so, in the end… It seems we'll have to search for our friends on our own… And we'll have to struggle along on our own until we're back with Donette-san or some human we can trust… Or perhaps even until we've made it back to our original world!" Noriya said as she looked at Negi, whom nodded his head in response.

"The person who owns this badge…In other words, our comrade, I think the likelihood that they're still in this town is high." Chisame spoke as she held the badge up.

"Why's that?" Kotaro asked curiously.

"We've seen about five kilometers of this town in all directions. Even though we've been within the card's range of communication, we still haven't gotten a response. In short, they are not one of the six partners." Chisame replied to the boy.

"And according to Chachamaru-san's detection, this badge's owner arrived at this town last night. That speed of travel is too slow for Ku-chan, Kaede-chan, Blair and Noah-san. Ako-chan I know for sure is with Blair because he was holding onto her when we got separated." Noriya added as she looked back at Chisame.

"And so, the only one remaining is Asakura." Chisame said as she held up the badge.

"Certainly, it's hard to think that Asakura-san would head back outside after entering this dangerous town." Chachamaru replied as she looked around.

"Well, whatever we do, first we need to meet up with whoever this is. Even if we wanted to call out to them and search through the middle of town…the problem remains that we're wanted criminals." Chisame grumbled as she put the badge back into her pocket.

"It's gonna be hard to move around…" Kotaro groaned as he tried to come up with an idea.

"So, what should we do…?" Noriya asked as she leaned her head on Chisame's shoulder.

"Guys. Please leave it to me. I have a good idea." Negi smiled as he handed the bounty list to Chachamaru. After much discussion and talk, the five of them quickly changed into appropriate clothes and headed over to the bar that they found the lost badge.

Upon entering, the people in the bar glanced over to the oncoming travelers. The five had decided to use the age-deceiving magic pills that Evangeline had given to them and used it as their disguises. Chachamaru, Noriya and Chisame turned into kids while Kotaro and Negi did the opposite and turned into adults.

The five headed up to the bar table, and came to the realization that the men in the bar were all staring at Negi and Kotaro.

"M-milk tea." Negi stuttered to the bartender.

"Kelp tea." Kotaro said.

"Hey, hey." Chisame laughed at the two. Noriya was still clinging onto Chisame and telling her how cute she was as a kid.

"It seems like everybody's glaring at us." Negi began to sweat as he whispered to Kotaro.

"They're just keeping an eye on the newcomers. Make sure you make a face they won't make fun of." Kotaro whispered back.

"Hey. These disguises are a good idea and all, but are you sure we won't be found out?" Chisame whispered to Negi.

"These are the 'age changing pills' that I got personally from Master. So we should be absolutely fine." Negi smiled calmly to the girl.

"Watch the face." Kotaro whispered as he watched Negi show a more stern face.

"Excuse me, but… You didn't happen to see anybody in this picture, did you? Last night, maybe across the street or something?" Negi asked as he showed the bartender his class roster.

"What's this? Oh, these are those bounties they released a little while ago." The bartender replied as he took the roster and looked through it.

"Did you seem them?" Negi asked curiously.

"Hahaha. You must be stupid. If I'd any knowledge of one of these bounties I'd be off trying to catch them." The bartender laughed gently.

"Y-yeah, I guess so." Negi nervously replied.

"Hey, bro." Negi felt a tap on his shoulder. As he turned around, there was a huge bald man standing behind him.

"Huh?"

"I can't stand that mug a yours. Lemme get a shot at it." The man grumbled as he put his large meaty hand on top of Negi's head.

"I-isn't that a little abrupt?!" Negi cried out. Noriya quickly shielded Chisame from what seemed to look like an oncoming bar fight.

"This really is a lawless area, huh?" Kotaro laughed.

"No use arguing!" The large man spoke as he went to attack Negi. Negi however dodged the attack stealthily and watched as the man hit the bar table.

"I won't be hit for no reason." Negi told the muscle head. Noriya quickly picked up Chisame into her arms as she and Chachamaru jumped behind the bar counter to insure that they didn't get caught into the bar fight.

"Hah. I was once beaten to a pulp by an idiot with a mug like yers a long time ago. Since then, I've had this conditioned response whenever I see some red haired nancy boy, ya know?" The man cracked his knuckles as the rest of the men from the bar got up and supported the muscle head.

"Eh? Father?! Are you talking about my father?!" Negi replied as he dodged all of the attacks the man threw at him.

"Huhhn? I didn't hear nothing bout him having such a big brat." He roared as he continued to throw punches at Negi, whom dodged or blocked all of them.

"Just how famous is that guy's father?" Chisame asked as she took a sip of her milk tea and watched the battle going on.

"I dunno, but then again, Nagi-san really was quite the thug from what I heard…" Noriya spoke as she messed with the nekomimi ears that were on Chisame's head.

No matter how many attacks the man threw at Negi, he dodged every single one of them. It was obvious that Negi's training with Evangeline had really paid off.

"Hn! You…restless little rabbit!" The man shouted as he began to power up with magic.

"That kid's good." One of the cat ladies spoke as she watched the battle.

"Yeah, but he's got the wrong opponent. Vargas is one high class magic user, with a body to match." Another one replied as they watched the man named Vargas power up.

"That's good. Now you've made me get serious! Melodia Bellax, Double acceleration!" Vargas had powered himself with an acceleration spell as he began to show off his new speed.

"Ah! Incredible!" Negi exclaimed as he watched in awe.

"I'm a master of the splendid quick move, too! Such smoothness already that's an earth shaking level! And more! Sagitta Magica five arrows of sand!" The man shouted as he got ready to attack.

"Oh?! Five unincanted arrows! Now that's something!" One of the men shouted.

"Vargas, you've improved haven't ya?" Another shouted.

"Five sand arrows able to strike in all directions and instant movement! That kid is history!" Yet another one had shouted as they began to make bets. Kotaro and Noriya laughed as they watched the two fighting. They knew something as weak as that wasn't going to beat Negi so easily.

"Hahaha! Sorry bout this bro! You're gonna get this all at once!" Before the man could even attack, Negi had already unleashed all of his power into a single punch on Vargas's stomach.

The man fell to the ground with a thud, and all the people in the bar let out a gasp of surprise.

"I…I'm sorry… You were strong, so I didn't hold back…" Negi apologized, a genuine look of worry on his face. Kotaro told the boy to watch his facial expression, as he watched Negi quickly pout.

"Bastard! How dare you do that to Aniki! Get him!" All the men that had been supporting Vargas quickly charged towards Negi, weapons and magic in use. Kotaro whistled as he joined Negi in the large bar fight. At the end of the battle, there were a pile of men lying in the middle of the tavern, and a crowd had applauded the two.

"Well, those two are strong." Chachamaru spoke as they watched Kotaro stand over the pile of men.

"Nah, they were just weak. I could've taken them all too…" Noriya retorted as she took a sip of her milk tea.

"I'm sorry about your tavern…" Negi apologized to the bartender as he let out a sigh. The man smiled at Negi.

"That's how it always is. I'll make them reimburse me for it, so don't worry," He replied as he gave Negi a smile and a wink.

"Still, you kids are pretty strong for your age. I'm also reminded of the old days." He added as he looked down at Negi's class roster.

"Huh? W-was that…" Negi started off, but was unsure of what to say.

"Why don't you two do some work as prize fighters?" The bartender asked as he looked at Kotaro and Negi.

"Prize fighters?"

"Yeah. As strong as you guys are, you could earn quite a tidy sum." Negi had been grumbling about his father when Kotaro quickly pushed his hand over his mouth.

"We don't care about money. What we want is information. Have you remembered anything?" Kotaro asked the man.

"Oh, yes. I remember now. She hasn't a bounty, but it was this kid. She came in and asked for a glass of water, so I generously…" The man's words were cut off when Negi and Kotaro interrupted him.

"Really?! Who was it?!" They both asked as they slammed their hands on the bar table.

"This kid. The cute girl with freckles. No mistaking it." He said as he pointed to the picture of Natsumi.

"Eh…?" Negi and Kotaro were surprised to see that it was Natsumi, considering they hadn't seen her during the gateport incident.

"Ah, that's right… She got into a dispute with some men on the street out there… There was another girl too… After that, they got on a carriage… I hope they didn't get caught by a slave trader…" The man nonchalantly spoke as he rubbed his beard.

"EHHHHHHHHHHHH!?"

Somewhere in the mountains of the magic world, Noah, Asuna and Setsuna were in the middle of the battle between some bounty hunters that were trying to turn them into the authorities.

"Oppugnare cum omni virtute, O' fifty-two spirits of thunder. Come together and strike mine enemy!" Noah shouted as he attacked one of the bounty hunters. He had used the Sagitta Magica as a diversion as he quickly leapt from his staff and concentrated thunder into his fist. In the clouds of dust, he struck the bounty hunter with a powerful punch to the chest.

"Heh, too weak." He chuckled as he looked over to where Asuna and Setsuna were. The two were just finishing up with the other two bounty hunters as they speedily ran through the forest. It was better to escape right then, than wait to regroup.

When they finally got a good enough distance away from the bounty hunters, the three stopped to get some rest.

"Damn. After that report about the bounties came out, we've been fighting new bounty hunters every other day…" Asuna grumbled as she took a sip of water from her canteen. Noah sat next to the girl as he pulled out his map.

"Hmm, because of that bounty hunter attack, we ended up getting a little bit closer to the other two badges. The thing is, every time I recheck the distance, it's almost exactly the same as when we first started." Noah spoke as he checked the location of the badges again.

"This means… It has to be someone that can travel at fast speeds. It could be Blair and Ako-san, but Blair can only fly for so long and because of the bounty he and Ako-san have on their heads, he'll want to keep a low profile…" Setsuna said as she looked to Asuna.

"It could be Ku and Kaede…" Asuna said as she tried to follow the flow of the conversation.

"I don't think it could be both of them, but one of them is possible. If it were both Ku-chan and Kaede-chan, they would be able to cover ground quicker. The chance of it being one of them, and then being someone else from the group is more plausible." Noah spoke as he continued to read the map.

"Hmm…Maybe if I had made a pactio with Kono-chan before we left for England I could try contacting her with my card…" Setsuna sighed sadly as she looked down at the ground with a grim face.

"Cheer up Setsuna-san! We'll find Konoka in no time!" Asuna tried to cheer up her master as she gave her a slap on the back.

"Actually, I think the pair could possibly be Konoka-chan and maybe Kaede-chan. My reasoning for that is the fact that I can feel Konoka-chan's magic energy. She had so much of it that it's easy to locate even though we're so far away. And it's either Ku-chan or Kaede-chan that is with her because the distance is usually always the same after we've travelled a day." Noah spoke as he focused his energy on trying to locate Konoka's.

"Wait! You can feel Kono-chan's energy!?" Setsuna shouted as she grabbed Noah's shirt and begun to shake him senselessly. Noah ignored the girl that was shaking him as he channeled more of his energy into locating Konoka.

"Yeah, I can feel her magic energy. There are traces of it in this area; she must have passed through here recently…" Noah calmly said as he pried Setsuna off of him.

"Really? Then eventually we'll run into them if we continue the way we are." Asuna deduced as she sprawled out onto the ground.

"We'll work on finding them in no time!" Noah exclaimed as he too collapsed onto the ground. Setsuna sighed as she knew that she couldn't deter the other two from continuing onward.

300 kilometers away from where they were, Kaede and Konoka were camped out together.

"I hope Secchan and Asuna and the others are okay… I want to see Secchan…" Konoka sighed as she looked into their campfire with sad eyes.

"Hmm, it's okay Konoka-dono. I'm sure Setsuna-dono and the others are just fine. Before you know it, you'll be in the arms of your beloved again." The ninja tried to cheer up the young mage.

"I know I know… It's just…I miss the sound of Secchan's voice, the way she smells and the warmth of her body… I miss her so much…" Konoka confided to the ninja. The girl smiled as she pat the mage's head and tried to reassure her that they would reunite soon.

In a huge city on the outskirts of Megalomesambria, Akira and Ako were tending to Natsumi whom has fallen sick from traveling around the desert for too long. The three had been captured by slave traders while Blair had gone to find some food for them. The boy was able to find them, and tried to get them out from the shackles of slavery, but was too late. In the end, he voluntarily became a slave so that he would be with Ako. The four of them was then taken in by a large furry woman, whom they called 'Chief'.

"Damn… Negi-kun…where are you?"

* * *

**Inugami: Hope you guys liked that little chapter~**

**Noah: It's basically three stories going on at once...**

**Noriya: Haha, I turn into a kid!**

**Noah: It matches your personality too!**

**Noriya: What was that pretty boy?!**

**Blair: ...P-please, s-stop fighting...**

**Inugami: *Sigh* Anyways, while they're fighting...this is Inugami...**

**Blair: ...Blair...**

**Noriya: Noriya...! *Throws chair at Noah***

**Noah: *Dodges* Noah...**

**Inugami: Signing out! **


	4. Ch 3: Journey to the Top

**Inugami: Here's chapter three!**

**Noriya: Took you a while to upload this.**

**Inugami: College is already kicking my ass...**

**Noah: You can do it!**

**Blair: ...Yes, we b-believe in you...**

**Inugami: Any who, enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Chapter Three: Journey to the Top

The rest of the day, Negi and the others did their best to find out what had happened to Natsumi and the others. The end they hadn't come up with any luck.

"To summarize… Somebody resembling Natsumi-nee-chan was taken away by a group of slave traders. Their destination being the Southern port city, Granicus." Kotaro spoke as he looked at the group of five.

"According to eye-witnesses, there were two others girls with her and a man whom tried to set them free. We're not sure as to whom those people are. Though, one of the witnesses said that the man had long dark hair with red streaks through it. It was tied into a pony tail. However, it seems that one among them was ill…" Chachamaru told the group as she tried to think of who it might be.

"That has to be Blair and Ako-chan! Eva-chan gave Blair some of those pills too, so he must have made himself much older than his own age." Noriya exclaimed as she looked at Negi.

"Well…what should we do?" Kotaro asked as he looked at the teacher.

"All we can do is head out!" Negi exclaimed as he punched his fist into his hand. Chisame and Noriya sat next to each other on the counter of the bar table.

"Exactly. Though, we don't have any confirmation that it's really Natsumi-chan…" Noriya said as she clasped her hand over Chisame's hand.

"But still, if our comrades are enslaved, we'll never get back to the real world, them being caught like that. We don't have time to worry about it, right?" Chisame snickered as she looked at the red haired boy.

"Right!"

"Haah. Still, even Natsumi-nee-chan has gotten caught up in this…" Kotaro sighed as he put his hand over his face. The five began to shift their direction towards the door as they prepared themselves to leave.

"Well, grieving over it won't get anything done. Let's go!" Kotaro exclaimed as he headed towards the door. Chisame, Noriya and Chachamaru led the way as they too headed for the door.

"Leaving already? Well, thanks for helping me repair the tavern." The bartender spoke as he watched the five leave.

"No problem, barkeep! The food was great!" Negi exclaimed as he looked at the man.

"Granicus is much bigger than this place, with a lot less social order. Be careful." He told the group.

"Thanks a lot—Umm, barkeep." Negi started off as he looked at the man.

"The Thousand Master came to this town long ago, didn't he?" Negi asked curiously.

"Yeah. It was about eighteen or nineteen years ago, I believe. He was still a brat compared to the regular daytime thugs though." He told Negi as he thought more about how the man was.

"What sort of a person was fath…was he?" Negi caught himself again as he looked at the barkeep.

"Hmm…His name was known even in this out of the way place. Being the hero who had ended the war, I wondered what kind of finely honed man he would be… Yes…that's it. He was an idiot." The man nonchalantly spoke as he gave Negi a kind smile.

In the free trade city of Granicus, Ako was busy sweeping the porch of a large building. Behind her, Blair was cleaning the windows; both were wearing servant-like clothing, and around their neck was a necklace that had a lock on it.

"I can't believe things ended up like this…" Blair spoke as he came up behind Ako.

"Yeah, forced into slavery like this… Blair, I'm sorry you got hurt trying to protect us…" Ako spoke as she looked at the boy. He gave her a kind smile as he put his hand over her's.

"It's okay. I'm going to think of something, I promise." He told the girl as he planted a kiss on her cheek and got back to work. Ako sighed as she watched her beloved head off to do some more laborious work.

"Hey, newbie! The hell are you doing loafing around?!" A voice shouted as Ako quickly got back to work on cleaning the patio. After another hour of working, Ako sighed as she headed into her room.

"Phew. Finally got a break…" Ako grumbled as she walked into the room. Inside, Akira was currently tending to Natsumi, whom was asleep on the bed.

"Ah, thanks for your troubles, Ako…Um…Did they make you do anything weird?" The girl asked as she watched her friend come into the room. Blair was seated in a chair nearby; it seemed as though he was working on something.

"It's okay. It just feels like a rough part-time job." Ako mumbled as she looked at the bed-ridden girl.

"More importantly, how's Murakami-san doing?" The girl asked as she walked over to the girl. Akira turned to face Natsumi, whom was breathing heavily, her face was completely red and she was sweating badly.

"She still has a fever, and she's fading in and out of consciousness. That medicine really did the trick for her, so it should take two or three days to recover apparently." Akira said as she put a cold hand cloth on the girl's forehead.

"Really? Thank goodness." Ako spoke as she looked at the sleeping girl.

"We had no clue what to do when Murakami-san just turned blue and collapsed in the middle of the wasteland." Ako sighed as she looked at Akira and Blair.

"Yeah, we were really lucky to meet up with her again by the time she passed out." Akira replied as she recalled how Blair carried the girl on her back most of the way.

"There was no way she could have made it to an oasis or a road on her own." Blair added as he continued looking at what he was reading. Ako began to cry a bit as she pointed to the lock on her neck.

"But when we did reach town, just when I thought we'd found a nice person who would give us some medicine to cure Murakami-san's illness… This was the price we had to pay for it." Ako's eyes began to tear up as she looked over at Blair, whom was giving her a kind smile.

"It's okay Ako. I promise I'll figure something out… Maybe I could be this thing people call a 'prize fighter'." Blair said as he continued to read what he had in his hands. Ako walked over to where the man was and rested her head against his shoulder. She still wasn't used to seeing Blair's new thirty year old adult form, and sometimes would forget.

"I know you'll think of something, Blair. I'm just worried about everyone else is all…" Ako said as she hugged the boy from behind. Blair sighed as he tried to think of what he could probably do. Maybe talking to the Chief about being a prized fighter could work, and he could earn money from the fights.

For the rest of the day, Blair, Ako and Akira tried their best at keeping up with their work and taking care of Natsumi until they could figure out how they could gain their freedom.

Two days later, Negi's team had finally made it to the Granicus Immigration Administration Bureau, and to their dismay the four were already made into slaves.

"The hell did you say?! 'those four are already officially slaves'?! The hell does that mean!?" Kotaro yelled as he angrily slapped his hand on the counter.

"As I said, we're certain we've found the names Murakami, Okochi, Izumi and Nakamura. It says that those four have officially been registered as legal slaves of Dolnegus-sama as of three days ago." The man nonchalantly replied as he looked at Kotaro with indifferent eyes. Kotaro quickly grabbed hold of the man by his tie.

"How the hell is that?! E-even though you say that…" Kotaro shouted, Chachamaru trying to calm the boy down from making such a huge scene.

"There's no problem with the legality of this. Here is the transcript… This slavery contract is clearly magically signed by the four in question. Until they repay the one million drachma, these four are definitely slaves." The man spoke as a piece of paper appeared in his hand.

"Huh? If you keep screwing with me, I'll beat your ass!" Kotaro yelled as he brought the man's face closer to his. The man clearly wasn't afraid of Kotaro, for he didn't even break a sweat.

"Even though I'm the one telling you…This is from the archivist." The demon man replied as he looked at the angered Kotaro.

"Well, where are they?! Tell us!" Kotaro demanded.

"Yes… I don't mind doing that, but you do realize that you'll be criminals if you barge in and take them by force, right?" The man asked as he fixed his glasses.

"Bah. Either way, don't you know we already have bounties on our heads?!" Kotaro thoughtlessly shouted as he took the information from the man.

"Don't say that so proudly, idiot!" Chisame scolded the boy.

"Yeah, Kota-kun! We'll get into trouble!" Noriya added as she kicked the boy in the leg.

"Well, in this remote place, criminals and bounties are not rare, but…" The man was cut off by Kotaro.

"I don't care! Let's raid 'em Negi!" Kotaro shouted as he turned to the teacher.

"…Right." Negi replied hesitantly.

"Huhu…raid them, huh? That's not very wise, no is it, Kota-kun?" A voice had come from behind the group, and the sound of a guitar could be heard.

"Who's that?" Everyone turned to see that it was one of their comrades, Kazumi Asakura.

"I think it would be best if… You listened to the words of a wandering young woman~" The girl snickered as Sayo in her little doll form popped out of Kazumi's hood.

Back where they were, a sick and feverish Natsumi was trying her best to do some work, but was struggling with her sickness.

"Natsumi-san! Shouldn't you be sleeping? You still have a fever after all. Who made you do this…?" Blair asked as he felt the girl's forehead; it was still burning up.

"Ah! It must have been that stuffed toy." Ako spoke as she looked at the sickly girl.

"N-no…"

"Who's a stuffed animal? That kid suggested this herself!" All of a sudden a voice and loud feet could be heard from behind them. There before the four was a strong and overbearing beastwoman.

"The medicine worked, didn't it? Then naturally, shouldn't she return to work?" The bear woman spoke as she looked at the four. Ako began to sweat as she gave the beastwoman a nervous smile.

"Ch-chief…"

"If that fever acts up, we'll blow it away. Honestly, two newbies that can't even use the most basic of basic magic. That's some baggage. These other two have some really good magic expertise, but Ako, you're still too unfamiliar with healing sicknesses. You've got a lot of work to do." The Chief spoke as she gave Ako a pat on the head.

"I-I'm working on that…" Ako shyly replied.

"You three are going to work for your share of food. And I won't allow slacking!" The Chief spoke as she stomped away from the four.

_"It really is like a stuffed toy."_ Ako thought as she watched the beastwoman leave.

"Murakami-san…" Akira and Ako looked at the girl worryingly.

"It-it's alright, Akira-san… It's my fault we ended up in this situation. I can't just lie around sleeping." Natsumi replied as she looked at the three before her.

"Alright, back to work! Starting today, we're gonna have a lot of show business guests coming in, so it'll be busy!" They heard the Chief shout from inside the building. Ako, Akira and Blair went off to clean some of the deck and the tables, while Natsumi went to get some tea for the guests.

"We have to pay off one million drachma; how much is a million drachma anyways?" Ako asked as she looked at Blair, whom was supposed to be the expert in all of this magical world information. Blair stopped from moving some tables and awkwardly turned to the other two.

"Well… That's one thing that I didn't exactly read about before coming here… I didn't really think it was that important…" Blair replied as he sheepishly looked away from the two. So basically, they were all lost sheep wandering around the magical world when it came to the knowledge of money.

"Great… Blair what are we going to do if we don't end up repaying our debt!?" Ako exclaimed as she clung onto the arm of her boyfriend. The boy let out a sigh of defeat, for he wasn't entirely sure what to do either; that was until a poster hanging on one of the buildings caught his eye.

"Hmm, a tournament to win one hundred million drachma!" Blair exclaimed as he pointed to the poster. The other two turned to see the poster behind them with two people in cool fighting poses; underneath the picture were the numbers one hundred million and a capital D next to it.

"That's it, I'm gonna go talk to the Chief about becoming a prize fighter!" Blair pumped up his fist as he ran to find the Chief. Only moments after he had left, there was a yell that came from near the patio that Ako had previously been cleaning that day. Rushing over to where the shout came from, Ako and Akira came to find one of the owners, Tosaka, and a group of his men, harassing Natsumi.

"Murakami-san! You leave her alone!" Ako and Akira shouted as they defended the girl, whom was on the ground crying. The man sneered as he gave the two an ugly face.

"You dare to talk back to your master? This will teach you not to disrespect me!" Tosaka quickly pushed Akira and Ako to the side. The man was then about to hit Natsumi with a magic filled kick, but before he had even made contact with the girl, he felt someone grab his leg.

Looking up, the man came eye to eye with none other than Kotaro. At first he was confused, but then he soon felt a sharp pain in where Kotaro had grabbed.

"Don't you dare touch Natsumi-nee-chan!" Kotaro snarled as he threw the man back. Arriving behind the boy were Negi, Chisame, Noriya, Kazumi and Chachamaru. The four chibi-sized kids all arrived flying in on Noriya's staff.

"Who the hell are you!? I'll teach you to mess with me!" Tosaka shouted back as he pulled out what looked to be an orb. The man spoke an incantation, and before Kotaro or Negi could do anything, Ako, Akira and Natsumi all cried out in pain. Even though Blair was talking to the Chief, he too started to cry out in pain. The Chief snarled as she threw Blair over her shoulder and quickly searched for Tosaka.

"K-Kotaro-kun…" Natsumi spoke in pain as she looked at the boy.

"Natsumi-nee-chan!" The boy picked up the girl as he tried to comfort her. Natsumi, Ako and Akira were all in cringing in pain as they tried to withstand it.

"It's only natural for the owner to do what he likes with his possessions." Tosaka gave Negi and Kotaro a smug look as he continued to use the orb to harm Ako, Natsumi, Akira and even Blair.

"You son of a…!" Kotaro was cut off when an angered Negi came into the fight.

"…Move out of the way, Kotaro-kun." Negi glared at Tosaka as he pushed past Noriya and Chisame.

"H-hey, calm down." Chisame said as she watched the boy give Tosaka a death glare. Noriya quickly pulled Chisame and Kazumi back and away from Negi, for she could already feel Negi's power rising along with his anger.

"Huh? You wanna go? It ain't gonna be like it was a moment ago." Tosaka smugly spoke as he watched the angered Negi. However, Negi was not afraid, for his power level had gone through the roof and all the power that he was emitting caused Chisame, Noriya and Kazumi to be blown back a bit.

"Wha? Uh… Wa-wa-wait a sec! I never heard of any magic power that huge! Hold up!" Tosaka began to beg when he saw that he was clearly no match for Negi.

"Shut up." Negi shouted as he powered up even more.

Before Negi could unleash his might on the man; the Chief came in and punched Tosaka in the face. The orb that Tosaka held fell from his hand. Slung over her shoulder, Blair was finally regaining his strength after being restrained.

"What the heck are you doing, you good-for-nothing?" The Chief growled as she continued to hit the man.

"Ma-Mama?!"

"We're you carrying this around and making passes at the slaves again? Do whatever you want with them?! Who's the one with the wrong idea here?! In your haste to restrain these three, you also restrained Blair while I was in the middle of talking to him!" The Chief shouted as she began to kick the fallen man.

"N-no, this is just how things wound up…" Tosaka tried pleading for forgiveness.

"No excuses! The health of these people is more important than the life of a thug like you! How do you intend to compensate for the pain you've caused them?! How many times do I have to tell you?!" The beastwoman continued to kick and beat the man as he begged for forgiveness.

Finally out of the restraint, Blair had gotten up to catch a weakened Ako. Turning, the group came to notice that Natsumi was falling to the ground.

_"Kotaro-kun…? Kotaro-kun can to save me? …It can't be. So this really is a dream…?_" Natsumi thought as she fainted. Kotaro and the others quickly rushed over to the girl as they watched Kotaro scoop the girl into his arms.

Much later, Natsumi finally begins to arouse from her sleep.

_"So it was a dream- Thank goodness. Then all of it was just a bad dream… When I open my eyes, I'll be back in my dorm room…" _Natsumi thought as she began to open her eyes.

_"What? This is the slave's quarters. Why? My hand… It's the real thing. No matter how I look at it, it's real. I can feel it, too…"_ Natsumi thought as she reached towards the ceiling.

"…sumi-nee-chan" There was a voice that called out to the girl.

"…Natsumi-nee-chan, have you come to?" Turning her head, Natsumi came eye to eye with the adult version of Kotaro.

"Thank goodness… How do you feel?" Kotaro asked, as he watched the girl quickly turn in her bed.

_"Wh-what does this mean? Huh? So us being slaves and that stuffed toy Chief is real. And Kotaro-kun came to save me? Wha? Oh, so what's real and what's a dream?_" Natsumi thought as she listened to Kotaro speak to her.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all this hardship…but… I will definitely free you from this place, Natsumi-nee-chan. It'll take a little time…but please believe in me and wait here." Kotaro gave the girl a cool smile, which caused the girl to blush hard.

"K-Kotaro-kun…"

"What happened during the day won't happen again. It seems that collar's electric shock is meant only to be used in extreme cases, with escapees and the like. You can rest assured of that." Kotaro told the girl as looked at the girl.

"O-okay…"

"Your face is all red. As I feared, it seems you still have a bad fever." Kotaro had put his hand on Natsumi's forehead to check her fever.

_"Ahh… Kotaro-kun's hand feels so cold… It's…really his hand…"_ Natsumi thought as she looked at the boy embarrassingly.

"That Teddy Bear Lady told me that you're free to rest until you've recovered. So, take it easy and rest!" Kotaro exclaimed as he got up to leave.

"Kotaro-kun! Thank you for saving me back there!" Natsumi exclaimed with all of her strength.

"Geez. How come you can tell it's me just by looking? Bah, get some rest!" Kotaro snorted as he walked out of the room.

"Of course I know. The hair style and personality gives it away." Natsumi mumbled as she watched Kotaro leave.

Upon walking out, he was greeted with Negi, Akira, Ako, Blair, Chisame, and Noriya. Chachamaru and Kazumi had gone off to do some recon.

"How's Murakami-san?" Akira asked the boy.

"She's fine."

"U-um, Na-Nagi-san. Can I ask you question?" Akira asked as she turned away from Kotaro and turned to Negi.

"This is all…real, isn't it? This world where magic and those non-human people exist…" Akira asked as she faced the red haired boy.

"What? My explanation wasn't good enough Akira-san?" Blair sarcastically spoke as he wrapped his arm around Ako.

"Yes… I'm sorry you've had to deal with all of this…" Negi replied as he apologized to the girl.

"N-no, that's alright. I mean, Blair-sensei was here with us, and then you came to help us… But more importantly…" Akira's words trailed as she looked to Kotaro, whom was talking to Ako and Blair. Chisame and Noriya knew where this conversation was going, and they didn't exactly like it.

"Earlier you said 'my students', didn't you? And over there is a magically disguised Kotaro-kun. So that means that… You would be…You're… Ne…" Akira's words would barely come out of her mouth as she dropped to her knees.

"W-wait…this is too much… B-but, if that…if that's true…" Akira's words were cut short as Chisame and Noriya quickly cut into the conversation.

"F-forget about it, Okochi! Don't think any more than that for today, alright? We'll discuss it later." Chisame spoke frantically as she patted Akira on the head. The girl though, did not know who she was.

"A-are you alright?!" Negi exclaimed as he looked at the girl.

"Be quiet, damn you!" Noriya shouted as she blew a gust of wind to knock the boy off his feet. Letting Negi's true identity to slip any time soon would make things harder for them if they planned on becoming prize fighters.

"Don't worry, we'll win the prize money and free all of you!" Kotaro exclaimed as he raised his fist into the air.

Somewhere in the depths of the mountains, Konoka and Kaede were in the middle of fighting what seemed to be a dragon. Kaede was running through the forest with a gigantic beast flying after her, and for some reason she had a blindfold on too.

Leaping into the air, Kaede used a shadow clone technique and prepared for a mighty attack.

"Kaede Ninja arts! Chain bind blazing flame battle formation!" She shouted as she tossed her large shuriken at the beast. The chain wrapped around the dragon and after setting off a talisman, there was a loud explosion.

"That just now? Kaede!" Konoka shouted as she ran to where she heard the explosion. Konoka scurried around as she tried to find the ninja girl.

"It's almost two hours… It can't be that Kaede got beaten by that black dragon…" Konoka began to worry, but soon heard a loud thud come from behind her.

"There is no need to worry. Black dragon extermination, mission complete!" Kaede exclaimed as she took off her blindfold. Stabbed into the ground was the horn of the black dragon.

"Kaede!"

"I think I went a little overboard." Kaede said as she looked at Konoka.

"I understand; I'll fix it up!" Konoka replied as she pulled out her pactio card.

"I'm grateful and don't forget to avoid healing the dragon's horn." Kaede spoke as she watched Konoka activate her card.

"The east wing's leopard flower and the south wind's broad growth." Konoka chanted as she healed the majestic beast. After being healed, the creature got up and began to growl.

"No way, after recovering you're going on a rampage again? Konoka-dono please stay…" Kaede's words trailed off when she saw that Konoka had put a hand on the beast's snout.

"Really, don't go doing bad things okay." Konoka commanded as she petted the creature. It nodded it's head in response as it flew off over the trees.

"…At any rate, as requested we were able to break the dragon's horn. So, it won't be coming back until next year when its horn grows back." Kaede spoke as she looked over at Konoka.

But then, Konoka-dono is really amazing!" Kaede praised the young mage in training.

"What's with that? Nothing won't happen even if you praise me, and talking about that Kaede, what are you? Winning against a dragon while wearing a blindfold?" Konoka giggled as she pointed to the wrapping in Kaede's hand.

"No, this is some link I developed during training. No… I still have lots to work on with this level…" Kaede smirked as she thought about how much stronger she would get.

Kaede had picked up the large horn and tied it to her back as her and Konoka headed back to the village where they had been staying at. Once arriving, the villagers were praising and applauding Kaede and Konoka's heroic deed.

"It's mysterious isn't it? My power which hasn't been of any use in our world, makes these people happy… Right, Konoka-dono… Konoka-dono?" Kaede turned to look at Konoka, whom looked like she was on the verge of tears. Her head was down, and it was clear that she was worrying over Setsuna and everyone else.

"Fufu, seeing Konoka-dono that depressed is rare now." Kaede calmly chuckled as she watched Konoka snap out of her thoughts.

"Eh, no, I'm not really…" Konoka tried to protest as she got all flustered.

"It's alright, Setsuna-dono and the others should all be safe. Cheer up." Kaede reassured the girl.

"I said cheer up!" A loud and familiar voice came from behind the two.

"Eh?" There coming into the village were Setsuna and Asuna arguing, with Noah trying to mediate the two.

"But then it is certain that Kono-chan is here, so wasting our time for a dragon extermination…" Setsuna spoke.

"It's okay Setsuna-chan! It seems that you can sell this horn for quite a price." Noah interrupted as they continued to walk.

"Ha, I'm sorry. I should be the one carrying such a heavy thing!" Setsuna exclaimed as she looked at Asuna, whom was carrying a large dragon horn.

"It's fine, and anyway, this is good training for my kanka!" Asuna replied as the three soon caught their attention on Konoka and Kaede. The five of them stood in place for a second, and it took a while to sink in that they had just reunited with their comrades.

"Kono…cha?!" Setsuna's words were cut off when Konoka jumped into the arms of her girlfriend.

"Secchan!" Tears welled up in both of their eyes as Konoka cuddled close to her girlfriend.

"Secchan, Secchan I wanted to see you! I missed you!" Konoka exclaimed as she first rubbed her face against the swordsman, and then planted a long and passionate kiss onto the girl's lips. The hanyo's face turned red as she kissed her beloved princess back, after parting, there was a loud cough that came from behind them.

"Ahem. Now that you two are done, can we formally celebrate our reunion?" Noah chuckled as he looked at the two lovers.

"Anyway, with this, five members of Negima party have been found!" Asuna shouted.

"Yeaaaaaaah!"

* * *

**Inugami: And that's the end of that!**

**Noriya: If you pay attention to this chapter...**

**Noah: You'll notice that Inugami changed somethings...**

**Blair: ...From the original scenes of the manga...**

**Inugami: And weaved together my own plots twists...**

**Noriya: Just for fun of course!**

**Noah: That's right! Mahou Sensei Negima...**

**Blair: ...Belongs to the wonderful Ken Akamatsu!**

**Noriya: This is the swordsman and mage in training, Noriya...**

**Noah: The full fledge mage, Noah...**

**Blair: ...The swordsman and hanyo...Blair...**

**Inugami: And the least non-magical writer here, Inugami signing out!**


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